The establishment of municipalities in South Africa has been a long and difficult process, which still appears to be evolving 25 years later. In 1994, the new democratic government undertook to restructure the country's racially segregated administrative structure, by integrating areas to form cohesive municipal entities that would allow for the more efficient management of the municipal areas. However, the demarcation approach was easier to pen on paper than to implement in practice. This article explores the South African spatial reform process from 1993 to 2020, by analysing literature and legislative frameworks, in order to determine how municipalities were demarcated and the challenges they experienced. The study found that the spatial restructuring process was particularly complex, due to limited knowledge of the spatial landscape and the many unresolved spatial administrative issues. The study calls for further research to support the formation of more efficient municipal areas.

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The formation of settlements has changed over the past century and so has its categorization. Previously, it was easy to categorize and differentiate rural areas from urban areas based on the morphology, economic activities, and the population concentration. However, upon deeper analysis, there is no standard method of classifying urban or rural. Research reveals settlements have merged to form larger regions. This chapter explores the transformation settlements from settlements to regions from a theoretical perspective. Furthermore, the study reviews settlement categorization in South Africa (1990-2020). The study found that the integration of rural and urban areas to municipal entities in South Africa has been riddled with challenges. As a result, many municipalities are dysfunctional. The chapter provides insight into the delimitation process and provides lessons for other countries.